Press Mentions

Profits may Rise with More Women as Board Members

Miami Herald
November 28, 2016

Re the Nov. 16 article “Women board members in Florida reach 20 percent mark”: It is fantastic that 20 percent of companies in Florida have women on their boards.

The story says: “Florida’s major public and private companies added three women to their boards this year, for a total of 53 women board members compared with 50 a year ago, according to a report by 2020 Women on Boards.”

That’s 20 percent of companies in the state with women on their boards, up from 18.7 percent in 2015, according to 2020 Women on Boards, a national organization that has been advocating for at least 20 percent representation by women on corporate boards by the year 2020.

Otterbein to Encourage Women in Leadership

Westerville News & Public Opinion
November 26, 2016

For one November day, Otterbein University will serve as the hub connecting women in leadership in central Ohio.

On Nov. 17, the university will host 2020 Women on Boards: The National Conversation on Board Diversity, a national campaign to increase the percentage of women on U.S. company boards to 20 percent or greater by the year 2020.

The group created a Gender Diversity Directory, a database of more than 1,800 public and private companies categorized by the gender composition of their boards, and publishes the 2020 Gender Diversity Index, an annual analysis of trends in the board composition of Fortune 1000 companies.

The campaign will host events across the country Nov. 17, and was established in 2010. Since the campaign's inception, central Ohio had never hosted an event, and Otterbein President Kathy Krendl said she thought Otterbein was the perfect place to begin.

"We work so closely with a number of women's groups, and we talked about it, and a number of them were saying Otterbein would be a logical place to do this," she said.

North Carolina Corporate Boards Making Progress on Diversity

BizJournal
November 15, 2016

North Carolina is making progress when it comes to diversifying its corporate boards. Women now hold 18.8 percent of corporate board seats in the state — up from 16.6 percent in 2015, according to the 2020 Women on Boards 2016 Gender Diversity Index report.

Nationally, women hold 19.7 percent of the board seats at 810 companies included in the index, up from 18.8 percent in 2015 and 14.6 percent in 2011. That’s good news for the 2020 Women on Boards national campaign, which is determined to increase the percentage of women on U.S. company boards to 20 percent or greater by the year 2020.

Mind Your Own Business: Nov. 17 Forum will Promote Women on Boards

The Oklahoman
October 31, 2016

Women hold fewer than 20 percent of seats on the boards of Fortune 1000 companies.

To help change that inadequate representation, female executives in Oklahoma City are gathering at a forum 7:30 a.m. to noon, Nov. 17 at the Meinders School of Business at Oklahoma City University. The local event dovetails with the fifth annual national conversation on board diversity of the Boston-based 2020 Women on Boards national campaign to increase the percentage of women on boards to 20 percent by the year 2020.

“Together we're raising public awareness about the importance of gender diversity on company boards and giving board-ready women the career advice they need to land a board seat,” Oklahoma City chairwoman Donna Miller said.

What is Holding Back Corporates from Hiring More Women on their Boards

FirstPost
October 13, 2016

The 2013 Companies Act by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) mandated that all listed companies have at least one woman director on their Board of Directors by 31 March 2015. So why is it that even after nearly two years and a deadline extension of six months and the threat of a hefty fine — of Rs 1,42,000 for non-compliance after the deadline of 1 October 2015, and a daily fine of Rs 5,000 per day of non-compliance thereafter — the number of companies without a woman director is still at 61?

We know that there are unfair assumptions about women in senior positions of management (take the myth of the catty woman), but new data based on studies conducted on companies in the US disprove some of these. For instance, there is the assumption that even if women do get on boards, they will bare claws and get territorial as hell. A mid-year report by 2020 Women on Boards, also in the US, demolished the myth of ‘Queen Bee syndrome’ and found that companies with women in leadership positions like CEOs or Board Chairs were likely to include more women. A Credit Suisse report published in September 2014 found that companies with women on their boards showed better financial performance.

Corporate Boards: Women Twice as Likely to have Professional Tech Experience as Men

Tech Republic
September 26, 2016

In 2015, women held 18% of the 9,875 executive seats in the Fortune 1000 companies, according to a recent report from the 2020 Women on Boards campaign, which aims to increase the percentage of women on US company boards to 20% or greater by the year 2020.

While small in number, organizations with a female CEO or board chair had significantly more gender diverse boards than organizations with male leadership, the report found. Of Fortune 1000 companies with a female in charge in 2015, about 87% had already met or surpassed the goal of having 20% or more women on the board, compared to 42% of all such companies.

Here are the Only 12 Women Sitting on Boards at Charlotte’s Biggest Companies

Charlotte Agenda
September 19, 2016

According to 2020 Women on Boards, women hold 18.8% of board seats in Fortune 1000 companies nationwide. That’s up from 14.6% when reporting began in 2011.
Comparatively, 35.5% of board seats in Norway, 29.9% in Finland and 29.7% in France were held by women in 2014.
Here at home, North Carolina trails behind the national average with women representing just 16.7% of board members at the state’s Fortune 1000 companies.
2020 Women on Boards is a national grassroots movement to increase gender diversity in corporate leadership.
The tangible goal is to have 20% of the board seats at Fortune 1000 companies filled by women by 2020.
“The conversation needs to take place,” says 2020 Women on Boards Charlotte Chair Jennifer Winstel. “Why aren’t more women represented when we’re half the workforce?”
It’s a simple question with a complex answer that 2020 Women on Boards works to address at its annual National Conversation on Board Diversity, which will take place in cities across the country on November 17 this year.

Study Finds Women Are The Ones Bringing Tech To The Boardroom

Vocativ
September 1, 2016

Boards in the U.S. featured higher percentages of members with tech experience than the worldwide average but remained consistent with global trends on gender balance — women bring greater tech chops to the table. Canada was the only country where male board members had more professional tech experience than female board members.

The report indicates that women — who fill only 18 percent of board positions at Fortune 1000 companies according to 2020 Women On Boards — may be held to higher standards of tech experience within the selection process. While women remain underrepresented in the tech industry in general and face significant gender-specific obstacles breaking into careers in STEM, the fact that they’re bringing more tech experience to the boardroom may also be a sign of the narrowing gender gap associated with digital fluency.

How Shaherose Charania Made A Dent In The Universe

Forbes
August 24, 2016

A few days ago, I was with a group of women who were bemoaning the stalled advancement of women. “Not so for women’s entrepreneurship,” I pointed out.

I credit this to the extraordinary ecosystem that has been been building for women entrepreneurs. Astia, Golden Seeds, Pipeline Angels, Springboard and Women Presidents’ Organization are among those who blazed the trail for high-growth women entrepreneurs. Another, Women 2.0, is changing hands so I thought it a good time to pay tribute to Shaherose Charania, co-founder and CEO.

While the numbers aren’t changing fast enough, compared to the snail’s pace of the women on Fortune 1,000 corporate boards – from 15% in 2011 to 18% in 2015, according to 2020 Women on Boards – the number of women-owned businesses is increasing rapidly.

Building a Career on the Foundations of the Information Revolution

Wharton School of Business
August 4, 2016

While at Frontier, Wilderotter again broke glass ceilings. When she joined the company she was the only woman among the top 200 senior leaders. Today, she says, 40% of Frontier’s top leaders are diverse.

She also worked to achieve diversity on the board, in the process replacing 10 of the 12 independent members in her first 18 months as CEO. “It was one of the best decisions that I made,” she said, noting that the new board had “five women, three African-Americans, and five men, all of diverse backgrounds and capabilities, and all passionate about helping me succeed with the company.”

Wilderotter herself sits on several boards today, including those of DreamWorks Animation, Hewlett-Packard, Costco, Juno Therapeutics, Chobani Yogurt, and Cakebread Cellars Winery. She said she has served on 28 public company boards and several private ones during her career. Wilderotter has also placed several women on boards and receives many requests. Female representation remains a challenge: the 2020 Women on Boards Gender Diversity Index of Fortune 1000 companies reported that in 2015, only 17.9% of corporate directors were women.

Data collected by TheBoardList also highlights reasons why many women don't make it onto boards. Fifty-nine percent of CEOs surveyed said they got board referrals from investor networks and 39 percent said they used their own networks. The problem with that, Singh Cassidy said, is those networks tend to be homogeneous.

TheBoardList isn't the only organization seeking the advancement of women on boards. The Women Corporate Directors Foundation is a global community group, and 2020 Women on Boards aims to raise awareness about the issue.

Getting women onto boards is one piece of the bigger issue of diversity in tech at a time when numbers reflect low percentages of diversity in computer science programs, in technical roles and in leadership positions.

Finding board members is a "process that requires not just availability of candidates," Singh Cassidy said. "I think there's room for optimization of that entire process."